Coyote

Or who was selling the stuff 😛

That would be truly epic, a Merc/Thugs MM. Though, personally, I'd go Thugs/Mercs 😄 Thugs are overall a good deal better than Mercs, and also work better with either Pain or Empathy since their Bruiser is more of an aggro magnet than the Commando, so it gets more benefit from Painbringer/Adrenaline Boost. Pain is generally better than Empathy, though Empathy does gain a bit more from mixing with Thugs than Pain... for one thing, it has +Defense buffs that stack better with the Maneuvers from Enforcers, and for another, it really benefits more from having +Recharge, so it gains more from using the pistols attacks with Force Feedback slotted into them. Not that Pain doesn't appreciate +Recharge, but Empathy really thrives on it. However, Pain > Empathy, and Thugs > Mercs, and I would suggest Thugs/Pain. It's actually what I'm going to run with Thugs (because I matched Time with Demons).

I'm disappointed that it took this long into the thread for the proper use of sleep to be pointed out. 😉

I'm not sure if he missed the flight, or if he's trolling you. Either way, I'm snickeryipping over here 🤣

I have had the unhandled exception error when moving Hasten with other powers. It doesn't usually happen, but I think it always involves Hasten.

Trollers don't chain. They play quite differently. You rotate targets a lot in order to mez as many enemies as possible. You rotate to get the AoE controls into the center of the spawns, then pick off the outliers with single-target controls. An attack chain isn't going to do that well, at all. Even against a single target, they depend too much on many longer-recharge powers to really have a consistent chain. A Blaster is likely to have Hasten, Build-Up, and Aim, all of which are fast animations, sneaking into their rotations, so they can build an attack chain. Same for Scrappers, sans Aim. But Controllers have lots of powers that are integral to single-target DPS, but are on recharges too long to set into an attack chain, but also have animations long enough to interrupt an attack chain. Most debuff powers that you'll throw in like Freezing Rain, Tar Patch, run 2-3 seconds in animation time rather than about 1 like Hasten/Build-up. And some builds depend on running several of those (Storm especially, with 3 powers cycled as fast as possible, plus Hasten). So... Trollers don't chain. They do smoke, however, if they're Fire. 😉 And let's not talk about what those seeds-users over there do... 😛

Defender? You may actually have a chance with a Defender since Traps, Poison and Cold have strong enough debuffs to maybe damage him. Traps can shut off Regen, Poison can cripple his self heal, and Cold combines -Regen with -Resist. Note that my Ill/Storm couldn't beat him at 54 until a bug with degenerative interface killed him, so I don't think it will be easy. But... maybe possible. But, a Sentinel or Warshade? Heh. I doubt a Blaster can do it, either. I mean, if Ill/Storm bounces of... eh. Hm. Maybe with a combination of Provoke to keep pets alive, a Shivan, Longbow Core, Snowman, etc, if you summon enough things at once and keep the aggro on yourself, maybe. But even then his orbital ray is likely to target the pets and kill them.

It is not good to proc them out, in most cases. Usually you dont' get more damage than you would from just damage IOs, and while you could max them out on damage and then add damage procs, it's hard to max them out and get Accuracy and Endurance Red and still have proc slots left over. Some exceptions: auras that knockdown are good places for Force Feedback. +ToHit procs are good, because like Force Feedback they just have to trigger once on a single mob, so if you're fighting in a spawn when the 10-second proc timer goes off, you have a good chance to get the bonus.

1: I slot the single-target Hold with procs, for damage. You can get 300+ damage out of a single power... but with Fulcrum Shift running, you can get a lot more than that and have a real attack. 2: As already said, Quicksand needs only 1 slot, and also I don't think that it's very useful to slot up Hover for Defense. 3: I slot Volcanic Gases with several damage procs. If you're teaming-only this may not apply to you, but if you solo, do this and you get some AoE damage. 4: If you're going to go with the Ice epic, then try to get Frost Breath (it's a very good power with several damage procs in it... with damage procs and Fulcrum Shift, yipes... 600 or so damage, EVERY SPAWN). Blasters wish they had it so good. I would seriously consider slotting Stalagmites with damage procs, because starting a fight with Stalagmites (procced for about 200 damage), Stone Cages (so they don't stagger around), Fulcrum Shift (to power Frost Breath), then Frost Breath for 600 is just sick AoE damage for a Controller. Ice Blast is a weak attack, not any better than your single-target Immobilize, you're better off with getting that earlier. But you're really better off with swapping it with Frost Breath (you have to take Hibernoob first). 5: Your other good option for an epic is Stone Mastery. But while Seismic Smash is badass (put damage procs in it, and let Fulcrum Shift boost the damage), don't forget Fissure: it can do a lot of damage with procs and Fulcrum Shift, and you put Force Feedback in it, and get the control powers up faster for the next spawn, as well as cycling Fissure itself faster.

Well, I know that they're better in teaming, but someone may well want to play a combination of those sets, and solo. You can't run a Beam Rifle/Traps character EXCEPT as one of two ATs oriented towards teaming, so... if that's what your character concept calls for, then you're running a teaming AT. And if you wanted to solo, then you're soloing with a teaming AT. Yes, it's a minority, but I don't think it's an inconsequential minority.

Or they're not always playing on an optimized Incarnate team where everyone can solo all of the spawns, debuffs are only relevant if they're applied in less than 2 seconds, etc. Also, I'm not even sure where these teams exist, where everyone splits off and wipes spawns out too fast to bother debuffing... I have some characters who solo on +4/x8, and if they split up to solo a spawn, the majority wouldn't wipe it so fast that Sonic's debuffs wouldn't be relevant. In fact, for a good amount of the builds, laying down an AoE mez to prevent return fire before starting the wiping process IS the opener, not a nuke... so while that's being applied, the Sonic character could be applying Howl and get the 20% damage increase to both their damage and my damage. Really, having characters soloing spawns is only efficient for teams that are low on support characters and high on soloing melee builds (or some Blaster builds, but not against all enemies... good luck taking the high-Defense Blaster against Rularuu at +4/x8, for example). There is a part of the game where what you are saying applies. And I admit that there are a lot of teams playing door missions on Peregrine Island, avoiding some of the tough enemy groups, and with multiple optimized characters, that smashes spawns so fast that nobody cares if you have a 20% -Res debuff to lay down if the team would just hold off on killing the spawn for two more seconds. And in that part of the game, being able to stack debuffs on a Boss is far less relevant than your first opening -Res debuff followed by a couple of high-damage blasts, then it's on to the next spawn. But that's not the whole game, and in other parts of the game where spawns take more than 10 seconds to wipe, layered debuffs start to matter, more than single-shot opening debuffs.

That's a good thought... I use Sandolphan's binds rather than clicking on them, so I never considered splitting the Tier 2s. That would work great for Demons, though, who have different types within the tiers. Might even work for Thugs, keeping the Arsonist on Defensive so he remains a bit less suicidal than usual. While I do keep the Prince on Aggressive, I always like to control his target so that we can double up Holds on a Boss and take care of a nasty Boss, or have him Hold a dangerous Lt while I hold another. Depends on the mob type, of course.

I usually put a tier in Aggressive (usually the Tier 3, they can handle it better), to balance between more aggressive attacking and personal protection. If I'm feeling really strong defensively (Demons/Time), I may put 2 tiers in Aggressive.

Heh, so no one is really Super, after all? 😉 I agree that everyone can solo AVs. But not everyone can solo ALL AVs... there are some that are just too hard (Madame of Mystery), or have special tricks (the Colonel Durays, Battle Maiden), etc.

I think the proper way to use Electron Haze on a melee-oriented Blaster would be to have Combat Jumping, and jump up from the middle of the melee-range fight. At the top of the jump, activate it. Although the animation will run through to the landing, it will fire down from above, making it useful for PBAoE fights. And its main benefit is getting to put a Force Feedback in there for a good amount of proc activations.

It's not my fault, it's Bopper's wicked sense of humor 😛. I personally don't consider Archery as a top set, however it gets mention when people ask about farming. The amazing cooldown on Rain of Arrows makes it great for farming, and the other weaknesses of the set aren't that relevant in that scenario.

I get that you started the thread from the premise that everyone is suggesting Sonic, thus it must be significantly better than some other sets. To be honest, I'm not sure that I've heard that before... not that I think Sonic is bad, but if I had to bet on what would seem the top set according to the forums, it would be either Fire or Ice. With occasional mentions of DP, Water, and Archery. All the blast sets are generally pretty solid, and some will come out ahead or behind the curve depending on what's important to you. Beam Rifle isn't good at AoE, yet it's one of the top mentioned sets for AV soloing. Fire Blast is commonly mentioned as a great set, but provides no damage mitigation. Etc. Everything has some strengths and some weaknesses, and how good it is for you really depends on what your priorities are. Sonic is a good set overall, but I'm surprised to hear that people mention it as their top choice for anything other than teaming.

Matched.

Two things. First, are you sure about your numbers? It looks to me that Shriek should have a duration of 5, not 3, and that Scream should be 7, not 6. Oh, and I think Screech is 12, not 14.9 (that's the base Stun duration). Second, you're right about individual powers... DP and BR both have attacks that are overall better with good damage and good -Resistance debuffing. Where Sonic's strength lies is not in a single attack like Screech, but in the fact that you can layer multiple attacks and run with 3 stacks active for -60%, then throw Dominate... then repeat with a different high-damage attack if you have access to one, or suffer by sticking Screech or Shout in. Screech can do about 170 damage with procs, so after a 60% debuffing it's not bad. Basically, Sonic stacks in order to get its superior -Res, while DP and BR have superior individual -Res powers, they're not going to stack 3-4 debuffs.

Did they upgrade Grant Invisibility to be a team AoE when used, or is it still on a single target?

I have to mostly agree with this. Sonic can be a weak debuffing set, IF you pair it with a secondary that is very active and doesn't allow you to maintain a solid stack of -Res debuffs. But other than EA and Kinetics, I think that you can keep 2-3 stacks up and easily average 50% -Resist, even if mixing in an occasional Dominate to take advantage of the -Res with a hard-hitting attack. I manage 2 stacks on a Sonic/Dark, who mixes in both Dominate and Petrifying Grasp, and that feels like a busy non-Sonic combination to me. Granted, Sonic NEEDS to keep up at least 40% or more to match up to other sets, but that's its design. You can keep that up and manage a solid attack chain, and it will boost the damage from your secondary if you have any. You can do the same concept with Dual Pistols, but not nearly with the same average -Res unless your secondary is so busy that you can't spend more than half your time shooting. In that case, DP can do as well since its debuffing is done with 2 attacks that last 10 seconds, so attacking more often doesn't help it much. But it would help Sonic. So pick a non-busy secondary, and Sonic will do solid damage once it ramps up the stacks, and it will help the team do a lot more damage. But if you pick a busy secondary, then Dual Pistols will probably do as well on the -Res side, and put out more damage. I wouldn't say that Hjarki is flat out misleading, as much as that he's not being clear that Sonic's -Res can be matched only in the case of a busy secondary.

I'm not sure how thematic you would consider them since the MM sets don't pair so clearly, but I've found the following combinations to be good: Demons/Thermal Robots/EA Necro/Dark Mercs/Traps Beasts/Nature I hear Earth/Earth on Doms is solid. Plant/Thorns or Plant/Savage (depending on your theme) should also be good on Doms. For Controllers, Dark/Dark would have been my pick also, but Earth/Thermal seems thematic and would also be solid.

Huh. You make a good point. I have Silver Mantis as an AV in my next mission, I'll have to make sure I use Power Analyzer and test if they self-stack.

Absolutely. I would certainly take, proc, and use attacks for Beasts, Demons, and Necros. Whereas Bots attacks are terrible, and I am not wasting valuable attack time by using draining attacks... my best attack is Nemesis Staff, lol.

I see that you weren't using Defibrillate much. I found that in my experience, using it on a spawn made a huge difference, for two reasons: First, I put a Chance to Stun proc in it. That makes 90% of the minions stagger, and will stack with other sources of Stun to mez Bosses. The duration is short, but that's okay because for the first few seconds you're Stunning the mobs, then after that they're drained. Second, using Discharge twice to drain a spawn does take a while... but using Discharge + Defibrillate works a lot better. Add in a Shock on the Boss, and pretty quickly nobody is doing anything. I did take an AoE Immob to keep mobs in the ISM burn patches since I run Bots/EA, so it's possible that mobs do run away more due to draining. I haven't noticed it as any kind of issue, of course because of the burn patches... mobs that aren't Immobilized do like to run away from those. In the end, since I'm going to slot both Shock and Discharge up for End Red and Rech so that I can spam them on an AV to lower its damage and regeneration... filling out the slots to get End Mod in there also for draining is worth the slotting. If you're not going to use them for AVs, I can see saying that they're not worth slotting just for draining. And if you don't want to set up Defibrillate as a Stun power and end up getting more draining out of it, that's also another reason why draining may not be very effective.